The packaging of liquid products, particularly perishable liquids such as food, beverages, alcohol, fuels, chemicals, medical fluids and the like, must be completed with materials and systems that attempt to prevent damage, spoilage and the like before the product is used. As a result, sustainable product packaging has been developed, such as packaging that extends the shelf-life of a product, packaging that reduces product damage, packaging that decreases the product's environmental footprint during its life-cycle and/or product packaging that is capable of communicating information regarding the safety of the product housed within. Prior solutions have included printing a “best by” date on the product packaging to notify a consumer of the expected date of product spoilage. However, use of the “best by” date is rudimentary at best, as it requires a great deal of guess work, and because product producers commonly err on the side of caution and provide “best by” dates that are well in advance of the actual expected date of spoilage, thus resulting in wasted products.
Thus to solve this issue, there has been increased interest in the use of packaging that is capable of communicating information regarding the safety of the product housed within, which is sometimes referred to as “intelligent packaging.” Intelligent packaging may be interactive and may include information gathered or measured from the contained product.
Currently, no systems and methods exist for affordably providing an intelligent packaging that incorporates a plurality of sensors to monitor the product within, and can additionally transmit the data in real time. Thus, there exists a need for product packaging that is cost effective for widespread use, sustainable, incorporates sensors for monitoring the product and can transmit monitoring data.